In this course, we will study the visual arts and culture of California after 1960 and consider the region's place in modern art history. We will focus on a series of recent exhibitions organized as part of a Getty initiative entitled Pacific Standard Time. Diverse in scope, these shows explored important developments in postwar art in California, including, feminist art, African American assemblage, Chicano collectives, Modernist architecture, craft, and queer activism. In this seminar, we will pursue research projects directly related to the art exhibitions we study, and examine southern California conceptualism, photography, performance, painting, sculpture (including, assemblage and installation), and video by artists both canonical and lesser known. Student projects will analyze the critical responses to the exhibitions, while also exploring the roles of archives, art criticism, and curatorial practice in contemporary art history. Class meetings and projects at the Williams College Museum of Art will provide the opportunity to see and study artworks first hand, especially with the exhibition Now Dig This!: Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960-1980, which will be on display at WCMA during the fall semester. This course fulfills the Exploring Diversity Initiative requirement as it offers students a comparative study of cultures and societies and provides various interdisciplinary perspectives on the art and visual culture of a specific region.

Class Format: seminar

Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on several short writing and research assignments, oral presentations, class participation, and a final research paper of 16-20 pages written in stages over the course of the semester

Additional Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the Gaudino option